Ammon News - The Kingdom’s trade balance deficit with the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) increased by 70.9 per cent to some JD718 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared with JD420 million in the same period last year, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Saturday.

According to the DoS foreign trade data, the value of national exports to the GAFTA countries rose in first quarter of 2022 by 33.5 percent, reaching about JD597 million, compared to the same period last year, which amounted to JD447 million.

In addition, value of Jordan's imports from the GAFTA nations increased "significantly" during the first quarter 2022, by 51.7 percent, to reach about JD1.315 billion, compared to the same period last year, which amounted to about JD867 million, the DoS figures showed.


According to the DoS report, Saudi Arabia topped the list of Jordanian exports to GAFTA countries in the first quarter 2022, reaching about JD181 million.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia also was the top exporter to Jordan with a value that approximately reaches JD636 million. Thus, the trade balance deficit with the Arab Gulf nation amounted to about JD455 million in the first quarter 2022.